Mr. Nasser Abdul Kiyimba is the proud owner of Shaft Seals and Engineering Supplies, a budding spare parts shop in Kampala. Abdul’s shop is neatly tucked away at the back of the space that he shares with 2 other businesses. Like his shop, it takes a bit of digging beyond the bustling exterior to discover the brilliance behind, what Abdul insists to be, “a small man’s work.”

Abdul grew up in the Wakiso suburb of Kampala. To chase his dreams of attending Makerere University for a teaching degree, he moved to the city and has stayed there ever since. Jobs are not easy to find in Kampala. After his degree, Abdul took a bit of a detour from teaching by accepting a job as a salesman at an engineering firm. He described the experience as “on-the-job-training” in the field of engineering. Although, he was on the sales team, through self-teaching he eventually rivaled the skill of other engineers.

With his strong entrepreneurial instinct he set work targets; he “would not work there for more than five years. "You have to keep trying to go up and up.” He had ambitions to grow something of his own, and working at the firm for several years allowed him to see challenges in supplying spare parts in the industry. Abdul decided that he could address those challenges himself.

Abdul started Shaft Seals and Engineering Supplies in March 2016 - and has never been without Numida since its launch in April.

“I use Numida because I want to be organized. Numida has been very useful. It tells me how am I proceeding - profit or loss.”

Being organized is very important to Abdul because it allows him to know how to grow his business faster and more easily -- which is essential to his dream.

“I want to be one of the biggest companies in Uganda.”

To realize this dream, his initial recordkeeping using paper books was simply not easy and safe enough.

“Life always has challenges.”

Some of the biggest challenges for Abdul and Shaft Seals and Engineering Supplies are managing credit sales and expenses, and accessing growth capital. Abdul is consistently using Numida to help him keep track of those credit transactions. “It is good because it shows me the date - date that it was made, and when they pay.”

For now, Abdul is enjoying the freedom to be creative and make choices for himself as a business owner. Numida believes that Abdul will be be a highly impactful employer in the future if not “one of the biggest companies in Uganda,” as he hopes.

We’re happy to have been with Abdul from the start and can’t wait to see Shaft Seals and Engineering Supplies continue to grow!